How do you file a complaint with the Florida Department of Labor?

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Quick Answer

The Florida state labor department, officially named the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, provides information on its website, FloridaJobs.org, about filing ethics or civil rights complaints. To file an ethics complaint, contact the Office of the General Counsel. Those eligible may file discrimination complaints with the department's Office of Civil Rights.

The Florida Department of Economic Opportunity website refers individuals considered ineligible to file discrimination complaints with the department to the Florida Commission on Human Relations or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The website provides forms for discrimination complaints to the Office of Civil Rights. There are no forms accompanying the instructions to contact the Office of the General Counsel to ask questions or file ethics complaints, only telephone and fax numbers and a street address.

The main Florida state website links to the U.S. Department of Labor and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration along with the state workers' compensation program for on-the-job injury in its Working in Florida page labor laws section. Although Florida's minimum wage is higher than federal law requires, employees wishing to complain about violations of the state law do not take recourse to the state labor department but must give notice to their employer of intent to file a civil suit, states law firm Ayo & Iken. Florida workers who believe they have been underpaid according to federal law may begin by addressing the complaint with the federal Department of Labor.